Mark Zuckerberg

Founder of Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder of Facebook

Early Life

Mark was born on May 14th, 1984, in White Plains, New York.

At the age of 12, Zuckerberg was a computer programmer. He had used the Atari BASIC to create his own messaging program. He created many computer games, and after his parents hired a private computer tutor, he admitted that he struggled to stay ahead of Zuckerberg. In high school, he created synapse, which was an early version of Pandora radio.

Education

While working with his private tutor, Zuckerberg was attending graduate classes at Mercy College. He moved on to study at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and earned a degree in classics, showing an interest in literature. He graduated in 2002 from Phillips Exeter and began taking classes at Harvard, but dropped out his sophomore year to focus full time on Facebook.

Zuckerberg and one of his cofounders.

Facebook is estimated to be worth $15 billion.

Zuckerberg working in his dorm room on the early days of Facebook.

Zuckerberg and one of his cofounders.

Facebook is estimated to be worth $15 billion.

Zuckerberg working in his dorm room on the early days of Facebook.

Work Background

Before Zuckerberg's Facebook company took off, he didnt have much work background. He was still a college student, working on the project inside of his dorm room with his friends. His only work was his projects, such as face mash. It was a dating website type program that he created for Harvard students. He was considered the software developer to go to on campus, known for his skills. Zuckerberg's other projects included CourseMatch, a program that helped students choose their courses based on their fellow classmate's choices.

Company

The company Zuckerberg founded is the commonly known, worldwide used, Facebook. Facebook started out of Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room, and was actually founded in 2004. It had over a million users by the end of that year. The company was made along with his friends and co founders, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard his sophomore year to develop the company full time. It started out being called The Facebook, but developed into much more. The Winklevoss twins, two fellow students, had came to Mark with a project, a social networking site called the Harvard connection. Zuckerberg helped for a while but dropped out to focus full time on his seperate project. The Winklevoss Twins then claimed publicly that Zuckerberg had stolen their idea, and that he would have to pay for their business losses. The legal dispute continued into 2011, the deal being settled as the Winklevoss' were given $65 million.

Fabulous Life Of The Nerdiest Nerds - Mark Zuckerberg (Creator of FaceBook)

Facebook Today

You probably use Facebook, or know someone who has. The company has transformed the course of social media, and the way people interact today. It is a social platform that has allowed us to keep in contact with old friends, relatives, and to even let people see a side of us that we can create. It was the change that sparked the entire movement of all social media we use today, and it has even changed the way we interact online versus in person.

Mark Zuckerberg

Despite all of his fame and fortune, Zuckerberg is rather normal. He has a wife, Priscilla Chan, and his estimated net worth is $6.9 billion. He is also a philanthropist. He donated $100 million to the Newark School System, in New Jersey. He has also contributed $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help stop Ebola. He also signed a pledge stating over his lifetime, he would give 50% of his wealth to charity.

Personal Thoughts

I think Mark Zuckerberg was so successful because of how dedicated he was towards his company. Not many people would put so much trust into themselves to drop out of Harvard and pursue a private project. However, it worked, and his risks and chances paid off in the end. I think he was also so successful because of how young he started, and his passion for computers. When he was only 12, he was already programming computers. He also was taking graduate courses while still in high school. He worked extremely hard and spent a lot of time on Facebook, which is why I think he was very successful.